Being born in Manhattan, and living the first 10 years of my life in the projects, my political persuasion was to be set in stone-Democrat.
However, my parents, who wanted better for their family, brought a house in Queens. It was like moving to a new country of driveways and backyards.
I was trilled!
When I got to high school, I met this guy named Bobby Greene. He was an Irish kid, good basketball, and a Yankees fan. Even though I was a Mets fan, we became good friends. Bobby would always come to class with a copy of the New York Post. I read the Daily News.
“Why do you read that,” he said one day.
“For the sports,” I replied.
“That’s the only section you read?”
“Yeah why?”
“The News is Liberal, and they lie all the time. The Post is Conservative. You need to read the Post.”
“Huh?”
So began my introduction at age 15 to the Opinion section of the paper and the difference between Liberal and Conservative. The funny thing was that I already agreed much more with Conservative thoughts than Liberal.
So I was leaning in that direction.
1979-Iran Hostage Crisis.
When Iranian students took
American hostages, it was a very tense affair in my high school. Some Middle Eastern looking students got beat up.
I remembered a movie I saw called Raid on
Entebbe or something to that effect, about how the Israelis successfully rescued over 100 hostages that were held in Uganda by PLO terrorists.
Me and Bobby both thought that if a small country like Israel can pull off that kind of operation, surely the greatest military (United States) in the history can do likewise.
Israel waited no more than 3 or 4 days before they mounted a rescue.
The United States?
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
Day 6
Day 7
Day 8….
“What the fucks wrong with Jimmy Carter?” I angrily asked Bobby.
“He’s a pussy! Dems are all like that.” he barked.
It was a very low time for the country. As Americans we felt so ashamed that a rag tag bunch of towelheads held us hostage for 444 days.
Then I saw Ronald Reagan once on the tube and I liked how he talked. At 17, I didn’t understand everything he said, but he projected a strength the country desperately needed.
One day, on my way to school, I saw this big billboard with a picture of Ayatollah Khomeini with a caption that read:
Fight Back Drive 55 MPH
I lost it!
And a full-fledged Reagan Conservative was born.
From The Last Tradition
